Publishing Scotland Opens Second Round of Translation Grants, Closing 22 January 2027
Publishing Scotland Opens Second Round of Translation Grants, Closing 22 January 2027
Publishing Scotland is inviting applications for round two of its 2026-27 Translation Fund, and the deadline is 22 January 2027. Publishing Perspectives reported the call on 13 November 2026. Applicants have just over ten weeks to respond.
The fund helps Scottish books cross borders. It offers grants to publishers based outside the UK, so they can buy rights from Scottish and UK publishers and agents. "Rights" are the permissions that let a publisher print and sell a book in a particular language or territory. Agents are the authors' representatives who negotiate those deals. The grant then covers the cost of translating a contemporary Scottish writer's work.
Translation is expensive, and that cost often decides whether a foreign edition happens at all. A publisher in another country may love a book but struggle to pay a translator on top of the rights fee. The fund is built to close that gap. Publishing Scotland describes it as a way of paying translation fees for publishers outside the UK who want to bring Scottish writers to their readers.
The fund was launched in 2015 at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Publishing Scotland runs it on behalf of Creative Scotland, the public body that supports the arts in Scotland. Since then, it has supported the translation of 284 Scottish-authored publications into approximately 45 languages.
For a writer, a translation means a book can reach readers in places the author may never visit. For a publisher abroad, a funded translation is a way to take on a Scottish title without carrying the full cost alone. For the agents and publishers at home, it is one more route for selling rights overseas.
Anyone considering an application has until 22 January 2027. Publishing Scotland's own information on eligibility and how to apply is the place to start.
